A Death In The Family
by The King of Pop
Summary: The 600 day Siege was supposed to be Iroh's greatest victory in Fire Nation history. Instead, due to the machinations of his brother Ozai, it became his greatest failure. Prequel to Second Coming, inspired by the Batman story arc A Death In The Family, character death


**This is my one-shot prequel to Second Coming. Based on the Batman story arc about Jason Todd's death. I really think people should enjoy this a lot. I hope that I can show the emotion of what happened to Lu Ten to turn him into Zero. I also hope to show the true sadism involved with Lu Ten's killer.**

"A Death In The Family" by The King Of Pop

"To the right!" He shouted to his men, warning them of the large rock flying in their direction. Luckily his call was heard and no one was crushed under the Earthbent missile. The battlefield around them was raging, full of fire and rock. Although his troops were sparred a moment of death, the conflict continued to claim men and women on both sides; Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. It was a battle that neither side wanted to lose. Day 598 of Prince Iroh's Siege of Ba Sing Se, with a large amount of troops being led by his son Prince Lu Ten.

The large army the Fire Nation had brought had yet to pierce the metal wall of the great city, but Prince Iroh was confident another few days of attacking the structure and fending of the opposing army would lead to victory. It would be a great moment for his Nation and himself, the older man knew that his father, Fire Lord Azulon, would be proud of his accomplishment. He only wished his younger brother, Prince Ozai, would be happy for him as well.

The brothers had always had a strained relationship, brought about by the fact that Iroh was Crown Prince while Ozai was not, but Iroh had always tried to make his brother feel like that didn't matter and that he was still an important part of the family. Add to it the fact that Iroh was tasked with leading this Siege instead of Ozai, and the bad blood only grew worse. Ozai had refused to speak to him the day he and his troops left Caldera, causing feelings of despair within Iroh's heart. Perhaps when this was all over, when they had conquered the city and renamed it New Azulon, perhaps then the brothers could sit and talk out their issues.

The sun was coming down onto the horizon, perhaps another thirty minutes or so and night would be upon them. They weren't at a true disadvantage during the night, they were lucky to not be fighting Waterbenders, but the men and women had been battling Earthbending forces all day. He wouldn't be a good General if he didn't let the troops rest after such a tiring time, and he always did his best to keep moral high during long military campaigns. Elite trained soldiers they may be, they still had families to go home to and he would not cause undue hatred or resentment within them by pushing them too hard for no reason. Tomorrow would be a new day, a new chance to take down the metal monstrosity surrounding the Earth Kingdom capital.

"We're done for the day! Everyone pull back!" The fighting had mostly come to a standstill already. The men and women heard him easily and beat a hasty retreat. The Earthbenders they had been fighting moments ago knew the routine by now, and began to quickly collect their dead and wounded. Pillars of rock sent them up and over the Wall and into the safety of their city. Iroh was of the mindset that if both sides were putting a cease to their attacks it would be dishonorable of either General's, himself and How, to attack while the fallen were recovered.

Several troops thanked him personally as he made his way to his personal tent, the fatigue blatantly evident on many faces and in the tone a few spoke. War, to the mind of the Crown Prince, was an effort fought on two planes. The most obvious being on the battlefield where military might and superior strategy would win the day's fight. The other side of the coin was within the men and women fighting those battles, and the much appreciated support of the civilians back home. It didn't matter if his army won every battle they participated in if the loved ones back home didn't offer some kind of encouragement. You had to win the hearts and minds of the people, and not just those of his Nation.

Perhaps if the citizens of the Earth Kingdom could see that having the Fire Nation rule over them would not be such a bad thing, that in exchange for support and loyalty to the Crown they would be protected and provided for, then all this fighting could come to an end. He could always hope; Iroh may be a General and he may have taken lives, but he did not do so with a smile or satisfaction. Hell he'd had soldiers moved to other units that had that kind of behavior.

"Another day, another crack at the Wall. No rest for us lowly soldiers, huh father?" Lu Ten was already waiting for his father in the tent, having somehow been able to make a pot of tea while he was at it.

Iroh chuckled dryly, taking the offered cup from the young man. "Unfortunately so that is the case my son. But I have a good feeling about our efforts. I think a few more days, a week at the latest, and we shall have conquered Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation." The Prince took a sip of the tea, and had to fight the urge to gag. Try as he might no matter how much he taught Lu Ten about the art of tea making, his son just _could not_ get the technique down. Oh, he certainly tried his best, but it never came out right. Perhaps his nephew Zuko would pick up the ability one day, the young boy was a smart lad.

Lu Ten didn't seem to notice his father's look of dislike; focused so was he on the ground in front of his chair. "Father…I'm tired."

Iroh's brow rose in confusion, not knowing why his son would tell him that. "Then go and rest for the night Lu Ten. I'm not so old I can't tuck myself into bed."

The younger Prince chuckled mirthlessly, shaking his head at his father's joke and his misunderstanding. "No that's not what I meant. I'm tired of all this fighting. We've been here for almost 600 days and still haven't penetrated the Wall. I really don't think it'll ever come down honestly. Can't we just call it quits and go home? I miss the Palace, the turtle-ducks, grandfather, Zuko, hell I even miss Azula and her bratty attitude."

The General sighed deeply, having already had talks like this to some of the troops of the course of the Siege. "My son, we have a duty to our Nation and to Fire Lord Azulon. You must continue the fight. You mu-"

"Why?! It's not my fight! I don't want to 'spread our culture' with anyone." Lu Ten interrupted his father angrily. It was all coming down; three years of fighting, almost two here at Ba Sing Se alone. He wanted to go home. He wanted the killing to stop. He thought of Jet, the young orphan boy he'd saved from some of his men that had gotten out of line. Jet and Smellerbee and Longshot. They had suffered needlessly because of this war, because first Sozin, and later Azulon, thought the Fire Nation should rule the world.

"Can't you see what all this fighting is doing? People are being hurt. People are dying. How can you justify all this suffering father? The only people not suffering are those who aren't involved! The rich, the nobles, most of them are continuing to prosper while the rest of the world burns. I don't want to be a part of this anymore!" Lu Ten glared at his father, not holding his tongue anymore like he had for the last several years. Everything was different now.

Iroh slammed his teacup down harshly, a deep frown of disappointment stopping his son's tirade. "You forget your place son. You know that the Fire Lord's will is law; us being his family does not exclude us. It does not matter how horrible the fighting gets Lu Ten, we have a duty to our country." Iroh didn't understand why his son was suddenly having these thoughts, but for his own safety this kind of talk had to stop. "Lu Ten, you know that this kind of talk can have you imprisoned for treason. Doesn't that matter to you?"

In response to his father slamming the teacup the young Prince slapped the teapot off the table, sending it shattering on the ground. "What the hell good is being free if the entire world dies around us? I didn't want to believe the things the people say about us, but then I saw the cruelty with my own eyes. Some of our own men father; trying to rape civilian women, planning to kill a child because he stopped them, and now _this_." Lu Ten exhaled a small burst of orange fire from his nose, his anger spiking even further. "598 days of nonstop fighting. 598 days of death. 598 days of nothing but a fucking bloodbath. I've had it, and I don't want more. Please father, _please_, give up this Siege. Nothing can be gained from it, nothing is worth all this pain and misery."

Iroh silently stared down his son with a blank look. His son had never before had thoughts or feelings like this. Iroh didn't like war, he didn't like death, but he was the Crown Prince and he had a duty. One day he would be Fire Lord and he would lead his country to prosperity; the world that Sozin envisioned would be under the Dragon's rule and care. Lu Ten needed to understand that sooner or later. "Lu Ten I will do my duty as is required of me as Prince. You, one way or another, will do the same. We will not speak of this anymore tonight. Leave my tent now son. I have to prepare a strategy for tomorrow's assault upon the Wall." The man knew that he had to be cold to his son, for as much as he loved him he needed to be the General now instead of a sympathetic father.

Lu Ten's glare could've melted steel at that moment, but no more words were exchanged between the two. Instead the young man walked out of Iroh's tent without looking back. Inside his heart a strong hatred of the world and the injustice of life began to spread. Lu Ten couldn't understand _why_ things had to be this way. Why couldn't they just stop it all and go home? Why couldn't they just end the Fire Nation's crusade of conquest and protect the citizens of their lands? Why?

Lu Ten wanted to change it all; the world, the Fire Nation, anything he could change really. How could he do this? How could he do anything to make that difference? If only the Avatar hadn't disappeared of the face of the earth perhaps things could have been turned around by now, even sooner if the Spirits were on their side. Lu Ten knew if he ever found the Avatar, or met him face to face, that he would not bring him in as was the expectation from his grandfather. No. Lu Ten would probably beat the Avatar senseless for not doing anything the last 100 years that this War had been going on.

All of that was neither here nor there however, and the sullen Prince entered his tent distractedly. It was a terrible fate that would befall him, perhaps had he been paying attention things would have played out different.

"Feeling troubled?" Lu Ten never saw his attacker, but he sure felt the blow to the head that put him unconscious.

**Day 599 of the Siege**

Lu Ten woke to a dark room, the only source of light being a single light bulb above him casting a small cone of white. It also cast shadows around him, distorting everything and making it nearly impossible to see if he were alone. Agni his head hurt a lot, and he could feel his hands tied behind his back securely with rope. His hands tingled irritably, the circulation must've been cut off for some time now, and the pain in his head made even the act of breathing feel like a chore.

"You're finally awake. I'm very glad, because now I can get to the fun part." The Prince barely had time to lift his head before something very hard and metal slammed into his cheek, sending him to the ground with a pained groan. Blood filled his mouth and his cheekbone felt like it may have been cracked, not to mention the throbbing in his head worsened.

"Wow that looked like it really hurt." That voice….Lu Ten knew that voice. A golden iris struggled open and looked up, hoping that what his mind was saying would not be true. The man standing over him brought down the weapon, a crowbar it looked like, onto his chest twice before hitting the Royal boy in the head again. "Now hang on, that looked like it hurt a lot more."

His chest burned like it'd been set afire. Lu Ten struggled to breathe and stay conscious, knowing that if he passed back out he may never wake up. His abuser stood next to him now, lightly tapping the deadly item against his hand a few times. It really was him, much as Lu Ten didn't believe it, there he stood plain as day under the light. Golden eyes staring him down with a mixture of coldness and brutal amusement. Rich colored robes in black and reds, top quality of course, and his long ebony hair in the style of a top-knot.

"So let's try and clear this up ok nephew?" His uncle Prince Ozai whispered softly, as if the fact that he was beating his nephew was no big deal. "What hurts more: A?" A vicious strike to the jaw came lightning quick, this time for sure cracking the bone. "Or B?" A shot to the ribs caused an audible snap within his chest. "Forehand?" Another strike to the ribs. "Or Backhand?" His temple was struck, followed by several more hits to his face. The last hit sent him face-first to the hard floor, breathing heavily and blood seeping from his mouth.

Prince Ozai laughed cruelly at his nephew's suffering. It was so nice to be able to take his frustrations of not being in line for the throne out on the young man. He briefly wondered why he'd not thought of doing this sooner, but mentally shrugged it off; better now than never anyway. Of course the rest of his plan would begin once he returned to the Fire Nation capital.

"Fu ou." Lu Ten mumbled softly, looking up towards Ozai from his place on the ground. It was really hard to breathe, worse than when the first attack hit him in the ribs. The blood wasn't helping either.

Ozai smirked, leaning down to hear what his nephew was trying to say. "Eh? A little louder Lu Ten, if you would. I'd be worried about a collapsed lung, those always impede talking of course."

Lu Ten took another painful breath, his ribs burning with fire again, and glared at his uncle. "Fuck you, you bastard." His response was to have Ozai grab him by the hair and slam his forehead into the floor.

"Now that was rude. At least your father has some manners." The older Royal sighed with fake disappointment. "I suppose I'll have to teach you a lesson so that you can better follow in his footsteps." Ozai lightly scratched his chin as if deep in thought, before smiling sadistically down at the young man. "No, I'm just going to keep beating you with this crowbar."

Lu Ten could only watch in agony as the crowbar was raised to strike again.

_With Iroh_

It was midday and the battle was once more ignited. After his argument with his son the night before he had indeed tried to plan some kind of strategy for today's assault, but he'd been upset and distracted and after 45 minutes of work that led nowhere he had called it a night. Today there was no real battle plan, no real tactics of any sort. No. He'd ordered his strongest Firebenders to assist him with attacking the wall, along with the catapults near the back of the unit, and had his remaining troops watching their flank and holding back the Earth Kingdom's soldiers.

His son had been a no show the entire day, even being absent from his tent strangely enough. Iroh entertained the idea that Lu Ten had possibly deserted them and ran off to his own devices. The idea was of course thrown out of his mind almost instantly. The boy might be having doubts about his place in the War and the Fire Nation's aggressive expansion, but to outright betray his people was something that he was sure his son would never do. Just the thought alone of the penalty for such an action was heart stopping. The only thing that would await the Prince for desertion would be a very public and brutal execution.

The metal Wall had been taking such a beating for the near two years the Siege had been going on that it was visibly on the verge of collapse. Just a little longer and they would be able to invade. "Keep it up men! This wall is coming down today!" His words encouraged the tired soldiers, giving them a much needed boost of morale. Every man and woman on the line with him increased their effort to melt the Wall with their bending. The General himself was about to send another volley of flame, but a soldier had managed to navigate through the carnage of the battle and approach him.

"General! We just received this from a messenger hawk! You need to read it!" The young Corporal passed the folded piece of paper, a look of distress upon his sharp features.

Iroh rose a brow at the strange interruption, but nonetheless looked to see what was so important. _We have your son Iroh. The very section of wall you are attacking also has a storage area within, where the young Prince just so happens to be at this moment._ The Royal's face paled nearly to the color of snow, a look of absolute horror slowly dawning. In a panicked haze he turned to his men and screamed for them to stop, but the sounds of battle around them masked his voice and no one heard his order to cease.

_With Lu Ten and Ozai_

Prince Ozai calmly opened the door of the large storage room and stepped outside. He looked around the area carefully for any Earth Kingdom soldiers or those damned Dai Li, knowing that if he were caught behind the Wall his life would be forfeit. Lucky for him it seemed that everyone was distracted by the assault happening on the other side. Good, it gave him the chance to escape and finish his business here.

"Well I have to go now unfortunately. I'm needed back in Caldera of course, but it was fun bonding with your uncle right?" When he looked at the motionless form of Lu Ten he smiled harshly. "Perhaps more fun for me I'm going to assume since you're being awfully quiet. Anyway, I've lots of plans to make now that you'll be out of the picture. After father hears that his firstborn's only heir is dead then he'll have to change the line of succession to me and my family. I'll be Fire Lord, your father will be out of my way, and if I have anything to say about it mine will too eventually."

The man's harsh chuckle went unheard by anyone except the young man on the ground. "By the way nephew, tell your father I said, 'Hello'." With another dark chuckle Ozai shut the door and walked away, planning to use the same tunnel he'd found to enter the city in the first place.

The room was dead silent for several seconds until Lu Ten cracked his eyes open, just the strain of that being a difficult action. Oh Agni he hurt so much; his head, his face, his ribs, and he'd yet to breathe without his chest flaring in pain. He had to get out of here and tell father what had happened, and get word to grandfather about what his uncle was planning to apparently do. Of course that was easier said than done.

Not wanting to try using his bending while in such an injured state, the Prince instead rolled onto his knees and managed to squeeze his legs through his arms that were still tied behind his back. It was a bit of a task, but he was just flexible enough to pull it off, and a few seconds later had his hands now in front of him. There was only one door in sight and he was going to get to it.

Feeling as if his entire upper body were made of lead the Prince tried to stand up. He made it upright and stood tall for all of three seconds before collapsing back to the ground like a corpse. No! He had to get out of here. The very future of his country could depend on his escape! He grit his teeth and forced himself onto his feet once more, facing the door to his salvation, and told his body to move.

One foot went forward, then the other followed. A step, another step, another step, each time he got closer and closer the pain within his head worsened. What was first a throbbing now felt as if a knife were stabbing his brain over and over. He wanted to sleep so badly, but such a luxury could be afforded once he was back in his tent and his injuries tended to by one of the medics. A minute passed before he'd finally made it to his goal and he happily twisted the knob.

The door did not move. In or out, either way the door was not opening like he wanted to. No…no. This couldn't be happening. Unbeknownst to him Ozai had placed a lock on the latch on the outside, ensuring that the Prince would not leave this place for the foreseeable moment. Why? Why would he do that? Spirits sake! Well, perhaps he should just sit down and try staying conscious. Help would come. He knew it would. His father and he may have argued the last time they had spoken, but Iroh was still his father and Lu Ten knew that if he had even an inkling of an idea that his son was being held captive he would rescue him. Yes, his father would come soon eno-wait. What was that beeping noise?

Looking in the direction the noise was coming from the Royal saw something that instantly put ice in his veins. A large number of explosive charges wired together and into a timer. Though they did mostly use their Firebenders in the war effort, the Fire Nation had forty years previously developed highly destructive bombs from explosive materials that their best minds had crafted. Of course Ba Sing Se had similar weapons, being the Earth Kingdom equivalent of Caldera, but other than that the Fire Nation had weapons and other technology that had yet to be acclimated into the Water Tribes or most of the Earth Kingdom.

Focusing on the timer he hoped that there was enough time that he could possibly diffuse them and continue waiting for rescue.

_9…..8…7…6…5…..4…..3…..2….1…_

Lu Ten's face changed from hopeful to stoic sadness in an instant. There was only one thing he could think to say in this tragic moment.

"Shit."

_With Iroh_

It all happened so fast that it almost seemed to be a blur. He had shouted a ceasefire to his men loud enough this time that they finally heard him. Everyone looked at him with confusion, wondering why the General would halt the attack when they were basically winning. Of course just as the Firebenders had stopped a catapult was already halfway through sending a large ball of metal and fire towards a red hot area of the wall. Upon impact a section of the Wall exploded and collapsed, debris flying towards the inside and outside area.

Iroh himself was nearly struck by a piece of metal as tall as a person, but fate was looking out for him as it missed by just inches. But none of that mattered to him. He could only look in fear at the destruction, knowing that his son was in the middle of it somewhere. Heedless of his troops calling out to him, themselves having to hold off the desperate attacks of the enemy Earthbenders, Iroh ran to the collapsed section and began looking for Lu Ten.

Not seeing his body anywhere he grabbed the nearest piece of debris and tossed it aside. Nothing. He threw another and again found nothing to indicate he'd located his son. Moving a few feet in another direction he lifted the metal rubble and was stopped by a terrible sight.

"No…." Iroh had found his son's body, there was no hope he could be alive as his chest had no movement at all, and the General felt as if his entire world was pulled out from under him. His son's body was not horribly mangled, but blood covered his face and lower jaw, and several cuts along his body had thin lines of the substance stained onto his clothes.

Iroh lifted the young man's body as gently as he could. A part of him felt as if the slightest mishandling would break his son into pieces like a doll. No…no…..this couldn't be happening. Not now, not when his son was in the prime of his life. The man didn't even try to keep the tears from falling down his weathered cheeks, nor did he pay attention to if enemy soldiers were near. None of that mattered at this moment.

"Lu Ten…"

The remainder of the day passed in one mass blur for General Iroh. Word had spread to his troops that Lu Ten had been killed during the battle when the Wall came down. Knowing that, none of the men or women could fault him for calling off the attack and ordering a retreat before noon had finished passing. Iroh had buried his son under a tree atop a hill overlooking the landscape, having done so alone as he did not wished to be bothered by anyone. A lesser man would have placed all the blame upon the Earth Kingdom and continued on without care that his son was now dead. An angry man would march into Ba Sing Se and slaughtered everyone he came across till the streets ran with blood, innocent or otherwise.

Iroh was neither of those. No, Iroh's mind kept coming to the argument with Lu Ten the night before. How his son said that people were suffering and that the War needed to end because all the pain was not worth it. Iroh had ignored his son's words and dismissed them as near treasonous thoughts, claiming they had to continue because it was their _duty_. Look where that duty had gotten him: his own son was dead, killed in the attack that he ordered and led, and the last time they'd spoken Lu Ten had been coldly dismissed.

Iroh felt that he couldn't possibly get any lower right now. Everything about the world suddenly seemed _wrong_, all because he couldn't save his son. He wasn't sure how he would be able to go on now. Losing his wife had been difficult, and to now lose his son?

On Day 600 of the Dragon of the West's Siege the Fire Nation army packed up and left. He did not know what he would tell his father when they returned to Caldera, but the journey was a long enough one that he felt he may be able to come up with something worthy enough to avoid execution or exile.

Had anyone stayed to watch over Lu Ten's grave they might have seen a pair of Dai Li agents approach and begin digging.

**I hope everyone enjoyed that. As you can see I modeled Lu Ten's death after Jason Todd's, because that character's history is one of my favorites to be honest. I hope that I was able to convey a real sense of emotion from Lu Ten and Iroh in their scenes together, and I hope you all found Iroh's mentality about his son's death to be well written. I always do my best with my writing because I like to entertain the readers.**

**Also, even without going the route of Jason Todd's murder, I always from the very start found Lu Ten's death to be a fishy situation. It happens, then like right after Ozai makes a play for the throne and has Ursa kill Azulon? Yeah…real fishy. That would've made a better plot/story arc than the canon explanation for Ursa's disappearance. I'll be having that rant soon enough in Second Coming. Next chapter of SC is getting put together btw, but I've been busy getting this new laptop and getting the rest of the parts for my car's new motor. Not as much time to write as I'd like. Love ya.**


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